SOMERS POINT — Gun-rights advocate Sandy Hickerson has resumed attending City Council meetings throughout the region in her attempt to convince the governing bodies to show support for the right to bear arms.
The Absecon woman has been a regular in Linwood for the past couple of months and used the public comment portion of the meeting May 12 in Somers Point to ask for a resolution stating opposition to any laws that would infringe on the rights of Americans to lawfully own guns.
She represents the Garden State 2A Grass Roots Organization, one of numerous groups across the country working to ensure Americans can own firearms without limitation.
Hickerson said she has been asking citizens of each municipality to sign a petition supporting the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and opposing any new laws that infringe on people’s rights.
“We want to stop laws that don’t support the Second Amendment,” she said, calling it a human rights issue. “We need you as local officials to help move forward up the chain.”
Councilman Howard Dill said he thinks the city should consider passing it, while Councilman Richard DePamphilis called it a “no-brainer.”
One or two members of Hickerson’s group, none a resident of the city, also spoke.
David James of Egg Harbor Township said the group’s only agenda is to fight laws that infringe on legal gun owners.
Everyone from the city who spoke did so in opposition, questioning why City Council would entertain it from an outside group, why it would agree to a toothless show of support for a controversial issue and why it would not just endorse all rights.
Maureen Helbig asked where the proposal originated.
City solicitor Tom Smith said Hickerson approached the city requesting it consider the resolution.
“There are an awful lot of rights in question in this country right now. Is council going to get involved with everything controversial going on in this county?” she asked. “I don’t think it’s your position as representing the city of Somers Point to be siding with something like this.”
Helbig’s husband, John, called it a terrible idea.
“It politicizes an incredibly contentious issue,” he said, noting that guns laws vary widely state to state and stating that 65 percent of gun deaths in the U.S. are suicides.
“When I hear about that, it really upsets me,” he said. “We don’t have the mental health capacity to treat veterans with PTSD but, boy, do we have enough guns to go around. I don’t think our local council should be taking this position at all.”
Theresa Dougherty said it’s not City Council’s job to decide federal issues.
“Do you want someone to bring a resolution for women’s rights, women’s equality, which is under attack right now? Because that’s what’s going to happen next. This is not something you should bother getting involved in,” she said. “There are a lot of people in town that don’t agree with what you agree.”
Noting the proposal came from an outsider, Lisa Bender said she agrees with “all of the actual Somers Point residents that have gotten up to speak about this today.
“I also think that it is a terrible idea to entertain a resolution that has no meaning whatsoever except to make you guys feel good about being on the right side of the Constitution, in your opinion,” she said. “It’s a constitutional amendment that will be dealt with at the federal level, so it’s redundant there. State laws would overpower anything anyway, so no point. There already is a county resolution that does the same thing.”
Bender said there is no place for guns in Somers Point and that passing a resolution would be bad for tourism.
“We do not have a rural community by any sense. People coming here are from urban areas that have more diverse thoughts and are more cosmopolitan in their thinking, and a lot of people are moving here from those areas,” she said. “Having this and articles about this, it’s pointless, it’s a terrible idea.”
History professor Levi Fox suggested the city simply state its support for all rights.
“The fact that we all agree on supporting the Bill of Rights means, why wouldn’t we just advance an idea of supporting all of the constitutional amendments? Why single out this one?” he said. “Others could ask for support of the First Amendment, freedom of the press and the important role they play in the forming of our society. So I would urge you to alternately consider an endorsement of all rights. If it were a resolution in defense of the Constitution, I think we would say something everyone in this room believes in.”
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
The resolution does not grant gun owners any special privileges. The resolution holds politicians accountable to the oath they took to support the bill of rights.
Legal gun owners are being punished and chastised for the acts of evil people.